8.27.2018 - #4 in Lubbock

Hey Hey everyone,

Well we got transfer calls last night. And we got some crazy news. I will be staying at least one more transfer here in Lubbock, and Elder Nabrotzky will be going to San  Angelo. I for sure thought I was leaving this transfer. This will be my 4th transfer here in Lubbock, but I am so excited to stay. I love the ward here and the work here is amazing. I would have hated to leave and say goodbye to some great friends that I've gained while I've been here. 

 To start out our week we were going back and forth to the hospital for a few days. There was a missionary that had a hole in his lung and so we were going back and forth to visit him and to go on exchanges so His companion wouldn't be so bored in the hospital. So I got to hang out with Elder Tower  quite a bit in the hospital . Which is great, elder tower is pretty sweet guy We also had his companion stay the night with us for the first part of the week. During that part of the week we had scheduled some lessons prior to knowing what was going to happen,  so Elder Nabrotzky and Winmill we're doing work in the Spanish area... But we had a few lessons that I needed to go to. So I called up a member and we went on splits for a while. The same member that went all out for A.B. and Stephanie's wedding (Bro. McPhee) we had a few lessons and had a really uplifting lesson with the less active family that has been going through a hard time. It really Built My Testimony knowing that Heavenly Father really cares and watches out for us. He knows us personally. What we want. What we desire. He knows our thoughts. He knows our doubts. He knows our strengths. He knows our weaknesses. But through that all he loves us and cares about us and wants us to turn to him.

Recently we found a lady and her husband that seemed super interested in learning about the gospel. What got us in the door was showing them the Because of Him Easter video from a few years back. We had a couple lessons with them. And they seemed like they were enjoying learning. We had a lesson set up with him this week but about 20 minutes before the lesson we got a text from the husband saying that they don't want to learn about the Mormon religion anymore. Someone at his work gave him a little and anti. It really made me think about the name of our church and what President Nelson has said. Truly the name of our church does not matter. But what does matter, is knowing that Jesus Christ is at the head of our church. He leads and guides this church to know what we need to know before his coming through his Prophet. We are so lucky to have the knowledge that we have of this restored  gospel. Through this gospel we can obtain everything that we need to to be able to return to our Heavenly Father and to reach our Eternal potential. Without the Book of Mormon, we wouldn't have the understanding of many things that we do. Like the Plan of Salvation, baptism, faith, ect. But through the Book of Mormon we can better understand the things that heavenly father wants us to know here on Earth.

But I have noticed over the course of my mission is that when we say we are from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the only thing that people hear out of that is Jesus Christ. And that is how it should be. When we tell people we are Mormons then people just remember what they have heard in the past about Mormons. I encourage you all to remember to use the full name of the church. It really does open doors that might not be there if we wouldn't have tried.

Thank you for all the love and support you all have shown me. I really appreciate it. Hope you all have had a great week. 

Love,  Elder Rose 🌷

Here is a couple more pictures and my quote of the week. Since I forgot one last week.

It was hard to narrow down the quote of the week cuz there were so many.

"My day has been good except I just listen to a song really like and had to shut it off because it was talking about fornicating." 

-a member of our ward🤣

Apparently music hasn't changed much from since I left;)

It's so fun when we receive these texts with pictures attached! We love seeing Elder Rose's happy smile :)

8.20.2018 - Temples and Families

 Howdy everyone. 

Another pretty crazy busy but great week here in Lubbock.  This week we had an exchange with the missionaries in Plainview.  I went with Elder Blake. It was super sweet exchange, definitely the best one I have been on In a while. We go way back to the MTC. During the exchange we had some lessons,  found some cool people to start teaching,  ate some dang good Mexican food, and got to reminisce about life in the MTC (We were chumps.) Looking back about a year ago makes me laugh. It's incredible how much a year can change a person. We both wanted to work on setting goals so we both set some to realign our focus on our main purpose as a missionary so that we can finish this last year with a bang.

This week I also had the opportunity to go to the temple. It was great. I am super lucky to serve in Lubbock since the temple is 10 minutes away, compared to my past areas it was 5 hours away!! This week we also did some service for an investigator that we have taught the whole time while I have been here. We were helping him and his Dad in their yard. (all dirt) So the night before we were supposed to help them it put down some rain here.....so their dirt yard turned into a mud yard.....but that didn't stop them. We ended up basically just playing in the mud for a few ours. It was a good time!!

This week A.B. (our investigator) and his fiance were finally married on Saturday. I was so glad to see them get married. I've been working with him the whole time I've been here and he has definitely been my favorite person that I have taught while I've been out.  He is a G. Him and his son Amoni are getting baptized on September 1st. For the wedding they were going to keep it super low-key and not do much, but there was a member and his wife that moved in about 2 weeks ago that have been hooking us up and hooked them up for the wedding too!! They wanted to do a ton of things for them, so they went and bought tons of decorations and refreshments for afterwards and made their wedding pretty legit!! It was so sweet!! 3rd wedding I have had out here on the mission and this one was the best, thanks to Bro. and Sis. McPhee👌

Hope y'all had a good week!!

-Love Elder Rose

East side Lubbock

Service

Barnes Fam

A.B.

Amoni

Temple

Sis. Fehoko (keep their family in your prayers)

Exchanges

8-13-18 - God is our loving Heavenly Father

Quote of the week--

"It's borderline inappropriate.... But I think Jesus would think it's funny." - member of the ward at dinner

This week has been a busy one. 

To start this week we had dinner on Monday night with a family that fed us... It all seemed good nothing too suspicious, until about 2 hours later when we were knocking doors and all of the sudden me and my companions stomachs both rolled at the same time.... We booked it to the nearest store!! It was no good haha but that took up about the rest of the night😅

This week we also had a spur of the moment move into out new apartment. We were told it was going to be this week, but it worked out and so we spent our whole Thursday moving into our new place and trying to get it ready for exchanges on Friday and Saturday with some Clovis, NM missionaries. It was a very interesting exchange to say the least. The rest of my week was filled with some sweet member lessons and trying to get the members on board with missionary work. We also had some fun dinner appointments. And some lots of knocking doors. Sometimes that's good and sometimes it's terrible, but it's all part of the work. 

This past week I have thought a lot about things that we go through in life. Sometimes we feel lost or stuck in a trial, or something happens you would never expect to happen. I read a talk given in the 2016 October General Conference session that talked a lot about trails and things we may be faced with and he said something that really stood out to me... He said. 

"When we find ourselves laboring through tribulation, it can be difficult to see our trials as signposts on our personal trail of discipleship. But whether we find ourselves at times in the dark valley of despair or on the high road of happiness, learning from and feeling compassion for the sufferings of others can be a blessing." Elder Evan A. Schmutz

I know that when we are in the middle of something that seems really tough it is hard to look up and remember the gospel in our lives. But we are so lucky to have this gospel that Jesus Christ established. We are so lucky to know of the Plan of Salvation, and know that because of Jesus Christ we can all live again. We can be made perfect through our Savior and what he has done for us. We can has second chances and new beginnings because of Him. I really like that quote because Heavenly Father is totally aware of each one of us and our personal struggles. He puts us through things so that we can learn and grow and possibly help others. I know God knows and loves each and everyone of you. I know this church is true and the Book of Mormon is the way to know for ourselves if this gospel is true.

I hope you all have had a good week. Thanks for all the prayers and support. 

Love Elder Rose🌷

A text we received on Monday :)
"Here's your favorite missionaries emailing you today"

8/5/18

Quote of the Week

"Sorry to interrupt you getting sexy and handsome for church... But what should I bring to church?" - a phone call we got from a female investor that came to church yesterday😂

This week😎

- Zone conference

- exchanges with Elder Markowski

- spikeball

- teaching lots of lessons

- Had the other Lubbock ZL's move in with us

- spreading the good word of God. 

- saw some drug deals

- we got our AC fixed. And actually got to sleep in our apartment this week.

- had a crazy Bible referral that wanted to be baptized..... Claimed he was possessed..... Gave him a blessing..... It was wild. 

-an hour long argument with some Catholics about Priesthood Authority.... So frustrating hah

- the church is true.

- the priesthood is restored

Love y'all. Have a great week!! 

-Elder Rose🌷